


Skin to Skin

by imaginary_golux



Series: October Ficlet Challenge [7]
Category: Hurog - Patricia Briggs
Genre: Fluff, Kissing, Multi, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-09 07:54:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12272151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: Prompt 4: First timeWard isn't entirely sure this is a good idea. Oreg and Tisala think it's agreatone.Prompt and beta by my Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.





	Skin to Skin

“Are you absolutely sure about this?” Ward asks. Oreg and Tisala exchange a glance of mutual exasperation.

“ _Yes_ , I’m sure,” Oreg says. “The worst thing that could possibly happen is you pulling a muscle or something. There is no way for this to backfire and damage Hurog, or us, or yourself, or even _Pansy_.”

Ward gives his beloveds a crooked grin. “You can’t blame me for being a little nervous.”

“No,” Oreg says warmly, and Tisala puts a hand on Ward’s arm and goes up on tiptoe to kiss him. “But if you fret any longer, people are going to start worrying something’s wrong with the rebuilding, so stop thinking up disaster scenarios and let’s see if this works.”

“Yes, Oreg,” Ward says dutifully. Tisala snickers.

“You know that’s the exact same tone he uses to say ‘Yes, dear,’ right?” she asks Oreg, who smirks.

“As it should be,” he says smugly. “Alright, Ward, we’ve talked this to death. Go on.”

Ward takes a deep breath and walks out into the middle of the field. They’ve made sure there’s no one else around - everyone is busy working on the rebuilding effort anyway, so that wasn’t hard - and if something _does_ go horribly wrong, Oreg is right there to help. And Ward can’t believe that anything would ever make him hurt Oreg or Tisala, so...Oreg’s right, they’ve talked this to death, time for Ward to actually _do_ something.

“Hurog means dragon,” he murmurs to himself. It’s Oreg’s theory that they’re basing this whole experiment on. Oreg thinks that since Ward is _Ward_ , is so tightly bound to the magic of Hurog by blood and by choice, has proven himself to be worthy of the name and the power so many times, that the magic has responded by giving him a gift that no other Hurogmeten has even known was _available_. That there’s a reason Ward has been feeling sort of...uncomfortable in his skin, itchy and jittery and _odd_ , these last few weeks.

Not just “these last few weeks.” Since the day Tisala pointed out to him that he was in love with Oreg and Oreg was in love with him, and his people wouldn’t give a damn if the Hurogmeten had a lover along with his wife, even if that lover was male, especially given that that lover was a very powerful sorcerer and (possibly, the rumors went) a dragon. Since the day Ward admitted to her and to himself that she was right, as she so often is, and Oreg came stumbling into the room to admit that he hadn’t meant to eavesdrop but he’d been right outside and -

Ward remembers two things very vividly from that day. The first is how it felt to kiss Oreg at last, so warm and sweet and hungry, both of them astonished by their good fortune. The second is how very smug Tisala looked, and how startled when Ward reached out to reel her into the kiss, all of them so close they could feel the others breathing.

It’s a good thing Ward has a positively enormous bed. Oreg sleeps like a cat, expanding to fill all available space, and Tisala likes having a small mountain of pillows on her side of the bed, and Ward himself, of course, takes up quite a lot of the middle. But it’s good, it’s so good, having Tisala on his right and Oreg on his left, all cuddled up together under the blankets in a joyful heap. Ward thinks that - that joy, which surely has not attended on many Hurogmeten’s beds - may be what made the magic of Hurog finally decide he was worthy not just of being Hurogmeten, but of something more.

He takes off his tunic and puts it down on a convenient rock, and then his breeches too, just in case. No point ruining more clothing than he has to. The morning air is a little brisk, and Ward shivers and stamps his feet and looks over at Oreg. The itchy, jittery feeling is getting worse.

“Take a deep breath and let it happen,” Oreg suggests. “You’re fighting it, I can tell.”

Ward grimaces, but Oreg _is_ the expert. “Alright,” he calls back, and closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath, and sort of _leans_ into the itchy, jittery feeling, opening his mind and his magic both to whatever Hurog wants.

There’s a very odd moment of vertigo, and a sort of _stretching_ feeling, like getting out of bed in the morning and spreading his arms wide and feeling his back pop, and then Tisala squeaks. Ward opens his eyes and discovers that he’s looking down at his wife and his lover from rather higher up than is usual.

“It _worked_!” Tisala says gleefully. “Oh, Ward, look at yourself!”

Ward cranes his neck around and blinks. It _did_ work.

He’s a dragon.

“Well done!” Oreg says cheerfully. “Now let’s see if you can turn back.”

Ward gives him a reproachful look - he wants to try out his new wings! - but it’s sensible advice. He closes his eyes again and focuses on being smaller, less scaly, more able to hug his beloveds - and there’s an odd feeling almost like the comfort of curling up around Tisala with Oreg draped over his back, and he opens his eyes again to find that he is human, and mostly naked, and it’s rather chilly this morning.

And then Tisala and Oreg seize him in a tight, gleeful embrace, and Ward isn’t even a little chilly anymore.

“You _did_ it!” Tisala says. “You were _magnificent_ , Ward.”

“Tomorrow we can try flying,” Oreg agrees. “And once you’ve got the hang of that, I bet you’re big enough in that form to carry Tisala.”

“Ooh,” Tisala says, eyes wide. “That would be _wonderful_.”

“Sounds good to me,” Ward agrees, and gathers them both close, and bends his head for the kisses he has _definitely_ earned.

**Author's Note:**

> So Best Beloved and I are doing an October ficlet challenge. We each generated a list of pairings we'd be willing to write and a list of prompts we wanted the other person to write, and then traded prompts lists without knowing what the other person's pairing lists were. We'll be doing a ficlet each every day in October. Should be fun!
> 
> I am, as ever, imaginarygolux on tumblr.


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